TOME Shorts
by SongbirdNightingale
Summary: A collection of the TOME: Terrain of Magical Expertise shorts I have written. Requests are welcome, but I won't write all of them, *They're also on my Tumblr*
1. Chapter 1

**Short One-**

* * *

"You're a dork," The laugh fell out of my mouth as I smiled at her.

"You know you love it," The girl rolled her eyes as she took a bit of her pizza. Today was the day. I took a piece of pizza off the tray. I had planned this day for weeks now. I had finally gathered the courage to ask her a major question. Now that she was sitting in front of me, I wasn't so sure I could ask her. She finished her piece and drank some of her drink.

"You're so quiet, Zetto," I had turned quiet all of a sudden, thinking about how I was going to do this.

"It's nothing," I spoke. She looked like she didn't believe me. I took a drink of my drink as I looked at her, "Something bothering you? You don't seem as happy as you were before," She placed her drink down.

"No. I'm fine," She spoke, "Just ready to leave," I frowned.

"Done hanging out with me?" She rolled her eyes, "Kizuna, what is it?" There was something bothering her. I could tell. I had been her friend for the longest time.

"Drop it," She responded, "It's nothing," She got up, took some money out, put it on the table, and then looked at me, "See you later," I frowned.

"Kizuna wait," I didn't reach for her, "I need to ask you something," She stopped and turned around.

"Yes?" I was nervous for some reason; I shouldn't be this nervous.

"Would you go out on a date with me one day?" She looked slightly surprised and then she smiled.

"Sure you dork," She said, "But later. It's time for me to go home," I smirked at her as I watched her leave.


	2. Chapter 2

**Short Two- First Date**

* * *

"I never thought I would see you struggling to find an outfit for a date," I heard from behind me as I looked for an outfit for my date, "So that guy you like actually asked you out? Who even would ask someone like you on a date?" I tried not to get mad at my sister who continued to speak. I would be meeting Zetto at a house down the street in an hour.

A couple weeks ago, he asked me on a date. I wasn't expecting him to. I loved being around him, even though he was a dork and could be a huge jerk. That day I had a lot on my mind. I almost lived a Cinderella story. The only different was that I wasn't a princess and Zetto was no prince. I eventually kicked my sister out of my room and locked the door to change. This was going to be a long night. I looked at my watch. I only had four hours at the most to be with Zetto today. That wasn't to bad. I grabbed my things and left the house.

* * *

"You're out here pretty early," Zetto said to me as he approached. I shrugged in response as I got up. He lead me to his car. We talked on the way to where he was taking me. Even though I tried to pay attention to him my mind was wandering on to other things, "We're here," Zetto finally said. I looked up to see we were at the Pizza place we normally hung out at. I smiled at him.

"You dork," He slightly smiled back at me,

"I try," He got out of the car and almost tripped. I laughed. It was so funny to see Zetto looking all nervous. He was almost always calm and collected. I unbuckled my seat belt as he opened the door. Zetto held out his hand and I took it. After he helped me out of the car, we walked toward the restaurant with our hands still together. I knew my face was a bit red, but so was his. We walked inside and sat in our normal booth in our normal spots. It wasn't even like we were on a date, other than the hand holding part, "So," Zetto spoke, "How has your week been?" I tried not to say something mean at this question, since it was about the fifth time he had asked me.

"It's been fine," I responded, which was not true. Living with the evil sister and not so nice mother did not make my week fine.

"That's good," He responded as someone came over to take our order. We chatted for a while and then ate. Sooner than later, the date was over. It seemed like it hadn't even been two minutes since Zetto had picked me up. We got into his car and he sat there for a minute before turning toward me, "I'm sorry if this wasn't what you were expecting. I wanted you to feel comfortable at the place I picked," My heart raced a little and I slightly smiled at him.

"It's fine, dork," He frowned as I looked away, "Thanks," I knew he was smiling then.

"You're welcome," He started the car and then we were on the way to my fake address. I quickly glanced at Zetto as he drove. Maybe one day I could tell him about my family. For now I knew it wasn't a good idea.


	3. Chapter 3

**Short 3- ~Family Situations~**

* * *

_~Zetto~_

I knocked on the door of the plain looking home. When I first drove up to it all those nights ago, I could not believe this was the place Kizuna lived. I waited for a response. For several minutes no one responded. Then I saw a familiar face look out the small window next to the door. A girl with orange hair opened the door and looked at me.

"Zetto?" She asked, "What are you-," Flamegirl, a girl who Kizuna gets along with[they're slight friends actually], cursed under her breath and closed the door in my face. I frowned. I watched her meet her boyfriend Alpha at the entrance to another room and say something to him. He frowned and nodded to her before disappearing from my view point. This was really strange.

"I don't care!" I turned my head down the street when I heard a familiar voice yell at someone. Kizuna stood in front of a house a couple houses down. A female that looked a lot like her was glaring at her. They spoke some more to each other before Kizuna glared at her and ran down the street toward Flamegirl's home. She had not seen me yet. I quickly headed to my car, hoping to avoid her gaze. As soon as I got into the car I sent her a message.

**To: Kizuna 3**

**Why didn't you tell me?**

I watched as Kizuna walked past my car, looking at her phone in anger. She suddenly stopped outside the window of my car and turned. I smiled at her with a sorry expression. She looked really upset. Before she could bolt, I got out of the car and ran over to the other side.

"Please don't run off!" I said to her. Kizuna looked at me with sadness in her eyes.

"Kizuna!" We both turned to see Flamegirl and Alpha coming out to join us. As they made their way over, I looked at her.

"I'm not leaving you and I won't leave you just because you have a bad family situation," I told her, "Try not to lie to me again," I pulled her into a hug as the other two came over. I let Kizuna go, "I better get going," I said, "I just stopped by to see you since I was in the neighborhood," Kizuna slightly smiled and punched me in the arm. I frowned.

"See you later, dork," I smirked.

"Promise," I headed to the car as she called out to me.

"Thanks Zetto,"


	4. Chapter 4

**Short 4-**

* * *

_Perhaps You'll Figure Out That I Really Do Care For You._

I stood by his side as he looked out on the ocean. He sighed as he got up.

"Zetto?" I spoke, "Where are you going?" He slightly smiled.

"I'll see you later, Kizuna," He responded before getting up and leaving me alone. I looked at the ocean. There were so many thoughts going through my head.

I had met Zetto a year or two ago when we were partnered for something in a class. Since then we had became pretty close, but he still didn't fully realize that I cared for him.

* * *

_Maybe You'll Stop Doing This To Me_

He disappeared again with no trace. I frowned as I stood in the cold. The police were looking for him everywhere. They were getting tired of him leaving like this. Then the idea came to me. Of course he would go there. I quietly left to go see if I could find Zetto. I parked my car in the spot I normally did and headed down to the beach, my phone's light guiding the way. Eventually I made it to where we normally met. And there he was.

"Zetto," He didn't look up, "We should go," The boy got up and dusted off his pants.

"I guess so,"

* * *

_I Love You_

My heart raced as he sat next to me. Today wasn't any different from yesterday. Why would it be racing now?

"You're face is red," Zetto commented as my face turned redder than it had been. I punched him in the shoulder as I smiled. That was the day I realized that I loved the boy that had grew to be my best friend.

* * *

_You There?_

I cursed as I tried his number for the fifth time. He wasn't answering. It was another one of those 'Zetto disappears' nights. I couldn't get away from his parents to find him this time. All I could do was call him until I could get him.

* * *

_Zetto?_

Still no response. It was weird. He always responded.

* * *

_Zetto?_

I then gave up and sighed as I sat in a chair in their living room. I closed my eyes and fell asleep. When I woke up, I had a voice message from him.

_Hey Zetto…_

* * *

I placed the flowers in the way he would have wanted them as I looked at his stone.

"Why?" I asked, not expecting an answer. I would never have known that I could have saved him that night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Short 5- ~Asking For Favors~**

**Contains old headcannons**

* * *

It wasn't fair of me to do this to her. It wasn't fair of a guy who had walked out of her life to just randomly walk back in. It wasn't fair for me to step all over her now normal life. It had been years since we had walked away form our lives as TOME players and sometimes I think it was a good thing. Now that I had decided to come back, I needed her back with me.

That was going to be the hard part. Getting Kizuna to come back. It had been years since I had talked to the girl who had once been known as Kizuna. We had been the best of friends back then. But that was then, before the virus. Now days she was alone and I was too. We were outcast and not the ones that could be together, no matter how many times I wanted to go talk to her. My promise to myself about leaving her out of my TOME business was going to be destroyed. Everything about playing without her seemed wrong for some reason. It might have been because we spent so much time playing together. That was before we both changed.

I had to wait for the right moment to speak to her. I couldn't just go up to her and speak to her. There just never seemed to be a right moment. I watched her as I waited for that moment. One day our eyes locked for a second and she looked away. That was the closest I had gotten to speaking to her in years.

* * *

Eventually I gathered my courage and walked over to her one day when she was alone eating lunch. She didn't even look up as I placed my brought lunch in front of her. I sat down in front of her and opened my lunch. We didn't speak as we ate.

"What do you even need?" She eventually got fead up with me just sitting there, disturbing her peaceful lunch.

"A favor," I responded, "Maybe more than just one actually," She frowned.

"I don't owe you anything," She responded, "So I'm not doing you any favors," I sighed.

"They're not for my good," I looked up, "Kizuna," She froze at the sound of her TOME name, "I've been getting messages about the virus from someone and it's almost powerful enough to attach itself to someone," She frowned again.

"So you want me to help you stop it before something bad happens," I nodded in response to her statement. She sighed.

"I don't know Zack," My real name falls out of her mouth as easy as her TOME name fell out of mine.

"It's dangerous," I reminded her as I watched her look at my arm.

"I know," She responded, sadness in her eyes. I could tell that memories were most likely playing through her head. Suddenly the sadness was gone and she finished off the sandwich she had brought for lunch, "I'll help, but only so nothing bad will happen like it did to us," I smiled a true smile at her, something I hadn't done in years.

"Thanks," She rolled her eyes.

"That doesn't mean we're friends again, Zack," I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever Rose,"


End file.
